


Shepard’s Soundtrack for Life in SPACE!

by the_bookwyrm



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gen, Music!, Shepard being a troll to Garrus!, friendship!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 18:24:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13529988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_bookwyrm/pseuds/the_bookwyrm
Summary: Everyone who’s ever worked with Shepard knows of her love of music - in fact, it’s as well known with her crew members as her lack of dancing ability is. Anytime she’s not on duty, you can usually find her tucked away, watching the stars with music pulsing in her ears, or stationed at an out-of-the-way table in the mess area with bits of a model ship piled around her.Even once she was given command of the Normandy, it didn’t take long for her new crew to learn of their commander’s habits. Unfortunately for some of them, it also didn’t take long to learn of her taste in music.





	Shepard’s Soundtrack for Life in SPACE!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfiction for Mass Effect, so I hope that it comes out okay and that you all enjoy it! 
> 
> This is my gift for axiolotl on Tumblr for the masseffectholidaycheer gift exchange, and I hope you like it!!
> 
> Also, please let me know if any of the links aren't working for you.

Garrus was on top of the Mako, attempting to fix up some of the dents left from the commander’s latest away mission, when the elevator door opened and Shepard walked in. She was dressed in what he’d learned humans called “civvies,” with a towel draped over her shoulder and a water bottle in her hand. He saw the exact moment she noticed him, as she raised a hand in greeting and pulled out an earpiece.

 

Once it was out, even from on top of the Mako Garrus could hear the music pumping from them.

 

“Hey Garrus! What are you up to?” He raised a hand in return.

 

“Oh, not much. Just cleaning up the Mako again. You?” She wandered over and leaned against one of the tires, looking up at him.

 

“I was just about to get a workout going - there’s more room to move in the cargo bay, and since it’s off hours right now I won’t be disturbing anyone - at least, I thought I wouldn’t. Do you mind?”

 

Garrus set down his tool and swung himself down to the ground, so that he was standing next to her. “No, I don’t mind. In fact, I should probably do some exercises myself. Don’t want you to think I’m getting soft after all.”

 

She gave a soft bark of laughter and bared her teeth at him in a human smile. “I’d be happy to share the space with you, Garrus.” She moved to set down her towel and water bottle on the table the requisitions officer was normally stationed by, and then came back. “I do have to warn you, once I get my music going I’m not going to be able to hear you. I like it loud.”

 

Garrus nodded. “I like listening to music while I work, too. Helps keep me focused.” He looked at her then, smaller than usual without her armor or uniform, and thought that he’d never seen a human quite like her before. He cleared his throat and continued hastily, “do you have anything in particular that you like to listen to? I’m mostly partial to something with a good beat.”

 

She smiled again and nodded back. “Yep! I’ve actually got a playlist I’ve put together. Whenever I find a new song I really like, I add it to the list. Some of them I’ve had for years.” She paused then, and although Garrus didn’t realize it at the time, later on he would come to recognize that look as the one she got whenever she was about to cause some mischief. “In fact, would you like to listen to one of my favorite songs? You might like it.”

 

“I’d love to, Shepard.” She held out the earpiece that she was still holding in her hand to him, and he held it to his ear; it wouldn’t actually go in, seeing as it was made for human ears and not turian. She pulled up a song on her omnitool, and it began playing immediately into Garrus’ poor, unsuspecting ears. After a few moments of listening to the lyrics, he lowered the earpiece and looked at her seriously.

 

“Shepard, I’m pretty sure that my translator might be malfunctioning, because it sounds like the song is about fictional earth horses flying through space.”

 

Shepard was laughing too hard at his expression to answer him.

 

[[Listen to the song here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17o1OlroNSE&list=PLh0tlRH5AX2yLf7SE5DvrlbFMRk_y8nD2&index=1)]

 

* * *

 

Ash is working on cleaning off her guns when Shepard wanders in - they’re now two hours out from Feros, and it looks like she’s finally finished with giving her report to the Council. And also probably showering - that was definitely the first thing that Ashley had done. Even now she was still positive she had some plant goo just lurking in her hair, waiting to get her when she was least expecting it.

 

Shepard makes her way over to the armory after talking with Wrex and Garrus, and Ashley gives her a friendly nod. Shepard nods back and picks up her Avenger, which is her least used gun but, Ashley has noticed, always the gun Shepard starts with when cleaning.

 

Apparently Skipper isn’t feeling up to much talking, which is just fine with Ashley, because after running around on Feros for most of the day and capping it off with killing some huge plant monster, she mostly just wants to sleep for a week. She can’t imagine that Shepard feels any better - in fact, probably she feels worse, considering that she just got to mind merge again, first with the plant’s former minion and then with Liara.

 

Ashley cannot believe her life sometimes, she really can’t.

 

They work in companionable silence for quite some time, which breaks when Shepard lets out a low chuckle. Ashley smiles a bit to hear it, and decides that some talking can’t hurt.

 

“Something funny over there Skipper?”

 

Shepard shrugs a bit and sets down her brush, setting her weight against the table. “I was just thinking about the mission today, and the Thorian reminded me of this really old song from earth. It’s been forever since I’ve heard it, and I can’t really believe that I still remember it.”

 

Ashley snorted and set down her gun too, relaxing next to Shepard. “Those are the songs that always stick with you, I think. The ones you never expect. Do you want to share with the class?”

 

Shepard grinned and pulled up her omnitool. “I thought you’d never ask.”

 

The rest of the people in the cargo bay are startled out of their quiet thoughts by the sound of raucous laughter - the kind that knows that half the reason it’s so funny is because they’re so exhausted, and also because there’s nothing better than laughing with a friend.

 

[[Listen to the song here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQJagD96X8U&list=PLh0tlRH5AX2yLf7SE5DvrlbFMRk_y8nD2&index=2)]

 

* * *

 

It’s 0200 on board the ship, and Joker is at the bridge again - it’s definitely not an uncommon occurrence. It actually used to happen more often; even with Cerberus’ fancy new bone mods, sometimes it just hurts too much to sleep. And even though he was somewhat joking when he talked to Shepard earlier, the chair he’s in really is nice. It’s very comfortable, even on the bad days, which is what this one is shaping up to be.

 

He dismissed the night shift and logged EDI out for the night, so when he hears footsteps coming up behind him he’s somewhat confused - not a lot of people like bothering the prickly pilot when he’s taking a night shift. He’s less confused when he turns and sees Shepard standing there, blinking in the light of the passing stars.

 

She’s wearing civvies and looks awful, bags under her eyes and messy hair. He sighs and shifts a little, because really, he’s not surprised that she can’t sleep. Dying has to mess with your head, right? Let alone then working for Cerberus.

 

“Hey, Commander. Wanna join me? The copilot’s seat is open, and it’s nice and quiet up here.”

 

She nods and takes the seat without saying anything, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, staring straight out the front windows like she’s trying to have a staring contest with space and is determined to win.

 

Joker leaves her to it and gets back to his job, although he glances over at her every once in a while. It’s hard not to, because even though it’s peaceful up here, she’s not looking any less tense. In fact, she might look even more tight than she did when she got here.

 

Aha, Joker thinks in a quick flash of insight, maybe it’s _too_ quiet.

 

“Hey, Shepard.” Even though his voice is low, he can see the tension in her shoulders ratchet up, and he wishes, again and for the hundredth time, that he knew how to help her better. “I know that you like music, and I was wondering if you’ve found any new songs lately. Or old ones? I’m not sure what type you listen to exactly.”

 

She sighs, and he can see the effort she puts into loosening her shoulders. “Actually, now that you mention it, I do. Most of my songs I find just crawling around on the galactic web, and I just found this neat old song from, like, way old earth.” She rolls her shoulders, and Joker hopes he’s not just imaging the way she’s relaxing into the seat. “Sometimes those are the best, you know? Back when we had no idea what was out here.” She waves a hand out at the stars. “Back when we didn’t know what was coming.”

 

Joker sighs with her. “That does sound nice, Shepard. But even if they didn’t know, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t still coming. It just means they wouldn’t be prepared at all.” He throws her a slightly panicked look and changes the subject. "So! Music! What song did you find?”

 

Shepard casts him an amused glance, but allows the graceless topic shift, and she pulls up the song. Together, they listen to the music as they travel through the stars.

 

[[Listen to the song here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQXx15eqLcQ&list=PLh0tlRH5AX2yLf7SE5DvrlbFMRk_y8nD2&index=3)]

 

* * *

 

James is making breakfast one morning when Shepard stumbles into the galley. He’s been on the _Normandy_ for long enough now that he knows how much she hates mornings, and he just manages to hold in a chuckle when she heads straight for the coffee. He starts getting a second plate of eggs and vat bacon ready and watching as she swallows a mug of piping hot coffee in about three gulps. He shoves the plate in her direction as she pours herself another.

 

“Morning, Lola. Awake yet?”

 

She glares at him and clutches her coffee to her chest with one hand as she grabs the plate with the other. “You’re lucky you’re such a good cook, Vega. Otherwise I might have you thrown into the brig for such blatant disrespect.” The last half of her sentence is uttered through a yawn, and this time James doesn’t manage to stifle his chuckle as she collapses into her seat at one of the tables.

 

He drops into the seat across from her, and the rest of breakfast is spent in peaceful silence. Shepard, more awake by the moment, pulls her ever present pile of datapads to her and starts to work. Eventually, James grabs his own datapad and starts on his daily tasks, and they work together quietly. Eventually other people start coming in and out, and the quiet of the very early morning is broken by the hustle and bustle of life aboard a military starship.

 

As the rest of the crew gets up to face the day, James becomes aware of Lola’s low humming. It’s a very familiar sound and tune, as she spent almost every day in house arrest humming it to herself. By now, he’s so familiar with it himself that he starts humming along, and that proves to be enough to knock Lola out of her work focus. She looks up at him in confusion.

 

“I didn’t know that you knew that song, James.” He shrugs.

 

“I don’t, actually. I just recognize the tune - you hummed it all the time while you were in house arrest.” She blinks, and although he’s never seen it happen before, James could swear that Shepard suddenly looks a tiny bit embarrassed.

 

“Oh, right. It was stuck in my head almost the entire time I was there, so.” She shrugged and looked back down at her datapad.

 

James studied her for a moment. “Is it alright if I ask what song it is? I still don’t recognize it.”

 

She looked at him again and shrugged. “It’s a really old song, about a woman trapped on earth who knew that her spaceship was going to come back for her. I guess,” she paused and sighed, “I guess it just gave me hope.”

 

“Well, I for one am very glad for that, Lola. Hope is never a bad thing to have. It’s come in handy for me a few times too.”

 

[[Listen to the song here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgjieHNOVHk&index=5&list=PLh0tlRH5AX2yLf7SE5DvrlbFMRk_y8nD2)]

 

* * *

 

When all’s said and done, they have their true reunion, and it goes even better than the last time, fueled by relief and the pain of those still missing. Afterwards, they still have some time left to themselves to cuddle, and Garrus has decided that he’s going to take full advantage of that. There’s no time to waste, after all. He’s leaning up against the headboard, and Shepard is laying on the bed with her head on his thigh; he’s taking the opportunity to run his talons through her fringe, which humans call hair. It’s lovely and soft, and so flexible.

 

After a few moments of quiet contentment, a small noise breaks the silence, and he looks down to see Shepard with her eyes closed, just laying on him and with him, completely relaxed for the first time he can remember. She’s humming something that he doesn’t recognize, although the tune sounds quite nice, and he’s not quite sure if she knows she’s doing it or not. Then she opens her eyes and looks up at him with a grin.

 

“Hey, Garrus, do you remember right before the relay? How you tried to play some mood music?”

 

He groans and leans down to press his forehead against hers. “Do you really have to bring that up, Shepard? It was not my finest moment.”

 

“No, no, it was cute!” she laughed. “I was just glad that you were as nervous as I was. But anyway, the reason I brought it up was, in house arrest I had a long time to think.” She sat up and turned to face him. “I really, really want us to last, Garrus. I want us to survive this war together. And, well, I found this song, and I think it suits us?”

 

He reached over and took her hand in his, pulling them together until they were resting forehead to forehead, looking into each other’s eyes. “I would be honored to share the rest of my life with you, Ava. As long or as short as it turns out to be. And I would love to listen to anything you want to share with me, even if it is about fictional earth animals.”

 

She smiled at him and pressed her forehead against his even harder. “I’m so happy to hear that, Garrus.”

 

They sat there on that bed, and knew that no matter what came, they would face it together.

 

[[Listen to the song here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL4sXr0Azcs&list=PLh0tlRH5AX2yLf7SE5DvrlbFMRk_y8nD2&index=4)]

 


End file.
